Jonah 3 - The Reluctant Missionary

by Lance Ponder⁽⁹⁰⁾
http://fkiprofessor.xanga.com

Second Chance

Jonah 3:1-2 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” As if to remove any shred of doubt, the Lord repeats the instruction (1:2) to go and speak to Nineveh. He does not tell Jonah what to say just yet, only to go. Jonah hated the Assyrians and did not want to see them receive God’s mercy, but he also feared them. At this point he was more afraid of God than the Assyrians. Jesus told the disciples that a time would come when they would face persecution for their faith (Lk 12:8-12). Jesus then told them not to worry about what to say when that time came because the Holy Spirit would give them the right words. This does not mean we are to go forego studying God’s word. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit, we must know Jesus, and we are to be always seeking to deepen our knowledge of God’s word. When we are put in a position where we must defend our faith the Lord is faithful to work through us to provide the right words at the right time.

Jonah Preaches

Jonah 3:3-4 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” We do not know exactly where the fish deposited Jonah or how long it took him to get to Nineveh from the coast. It is about 400 miles from the Mediterranean coast to Nineveh (near modern Mosul Iraq). Jonah 3:3 says Nineveh was 3 days journey across. This may seem absurd, but we should think in of it like “the greater metropolitan area” rather than the relatively small region inside the walls of the main city. Nineveh is described as having a total population of 120,000 people plus a large amount of livestock. The area considered to be Nineveh would have to have included a suburban region extending for a few miles beyond the central city walls. Jonah walked for a day through the outskirts of suburban Nineveh until he approached the main city. After a day walking deeper and deeper into enemy territory Jonah speaks a brief but profound message. He tells his enemy that in forty days God will destroy them.

Nineveh Repents

Jonah 3:5-9 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” Jonah did what he was supposed to do. He preached judgment and the destruction of Nineveh. His message was short, sweet, and to the point. It was also the sort of message that one would think would be summarily rejected. It takes very little imagination to picture the messenger being humiliated if not killed. Instead, the Assyrian people believed the message. To be more exact, they believed God. The king made a public display of his repentance and required the people to stop their violence, fast and pray to God. Even among the most pagan nations surrounding Israel, people had at least some degree of awareness of the God of Israel just as people everywhere today are aware of Budha and Muhammad and Jesus. Awareness of other religions does not mean belief in the gods of those religions. It was incredible that Nineveh put aside its paganism, if only for a while, and believed in YHWH. They responded to God’s message, given through Jonah, with complete faith. Fasting humbles the flesh. A call for all the people to fast was a profoundly and universally humble response. Through the act of corporate fasting and repentance, Nineveh threw itself at the feet of YHWH in hope of mercy and forgiveness. It is an entirely appropriate response today just as it was then. As we will see, God honored the humility of their repentance. Jesus came to preach repentance (Mt 4:17). The early church understood that repentance is a necessary part of salvation (2 Cor 7:10). We are foolish in the extreme if we imagine ourselves secure in our salvation if we speak a formula of words without humbling ourselves earnestly in subjection to our Almighty God.

God’s Response

Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Jonah and Nineveh run a parallel course. Jonah rebelled God. The king led a society in rebellion to God. Jonah received what he thought was a death sentence. The king received what he thought was a death sentence. Jonah repented. The king repented. Jonah obeyed. Nineveh obeyed. Jonah received mercy. Nineveh received mercy. One of the lessons we can take away from this is simply that our past sins make no difference. It is what we do about them that matters. Secondly, for those interested in evangelizing others, the awful truth of the danger of God’s wrath is one we must not shirk away from. We need to repent for a reason. If there were no consequence for sin, then why repent? If we can continue in rebellion without fear, then why shouldn’t we? The fearsome reality is that an eternal judgment awaits. This news is good if we heed it, repent, and trust faithfully in our Lord to cover our sins with his blood so that we may be raised to eternal life when that fearsome day arrives. It is also worth noting that although this generation of Ninevites repented, in time their descendants fell returned to their violent ways. Nineveh was destroyed about 612 BC by Babylon, but not until their violent rebellion was fully realized in the exile of Israel and near destruction of Judah.

Majoring in the Minors

Jonah Chapters:

1 2 3 4

Article submitted Sunday, May 16, 2010 & read 100 times.

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